The CFO is commonly considered to be the sparring partner to the company CEO. Traditionally this implies a physical vicinity of the finance department to the CEO. However, during my career, I have found more and more finance organisations where remote working is prevalent. I can identify three models.
Although FP&A professionals are good at analyzing past events, past performance does not predict the future. How can we make forecasts more influential?
Every month the Managing Director or Country Manager has to report the business results to the CEO or internal board. Depending on the corporate structure, there are different narrative reports, each with a different focus. This defines the role of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) and the information that needs to be collected for future growth. Two opposite cases will make the same point.
2020 has been the most difficult year in modern history. As Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” This survey we believe offers hope, insight, and a much-needed reality check on where FP&A is today. It also forecasts what needs to happen for FP&A teams to develop their best practices from theory into reality.
On the 27th of January 2021, I had the pleasure of facilitating the second Digital Benelux FP&A board meeting. The subject under discussion was “The Art and Science of Digitised FP&A Business partnering”, delivered by a truly international board panel of 5 members based in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.
In his 26-minute presentation, Paul Ashley Head of Applications, Lloyds Development Capital Limited, explained how the company has successfully implemented a digitised approach to business partnering, financial forecasting, and the private equity valuation process.